


The Bank Heist Job

by idkimoutofideas



Category: Leverage
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, Gen, i was trying to make it more ot3 but im really bad at writing relationships, just know its supposed to be ot3, mild swearing, this sorta got away from me, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 07:16:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17096222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idkimoutofideas/pseuds/idkimoutofideas
Summary: Parker, Eliot, and Hardison are in the middle of a con when they run into an old friend. Unfortunately, Quinn isn't the only unexpected player around.





	1. The Plan

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seraphina_snape](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraphina_snape/gifts).



“Erik Vandrian. CEO of Mountain Dog Construction, and all around asshole.” Hardison presses a button and calls up a picture of the mark in the Brewpubs back room. Parker tilts her head and studies the photo carefully. Vandrian was lanky, bald, and overall reminded Parker of an elf. The Santa kind, not the kind in Hardison’s movies. In the picture he also had a smug expression on his face that Parker immediately wanted to tase off. 

“Erik with a K?” Parker asks. 

“You know it.” Hardison winks at her before bringing up a map on the screen. “Now since he’s taken over as CEO of Mountain Dog Construction, Vandrian has been cutting corners everywhere he can. Shoddy building materials, shoddy plans, and paying off the safety inspectors so even when a building falls down, he doesn’t get blamed.” Hardison explains, pulling up Vandrian’s financial records. “Several dozen people have died because of his incompetence. Now our client, Cameron Page, worked on one of Vandrian’s less than safe buildings, but when he brought up the safety issue, he was fired and discredited. Page is certain that Vandrian is keeping the records somewhere, and with a little digging I found three safety deposit boxes checked out under a shell company.” Immediately Parker’s hand shoots up. “Yeah babe?” 

“Do I get to break into a bank? Which bank?” Parker asks, almost vibrating with excitement. Hardison gives her a wide grin 

“Not just any bank, the Riverview Chase Bank.” Parker can’t help but gasp. 

“The Riverview Chase Bank? They’ve got a Glenn Rieder 4700 with a combination and passcode lock! The vault’s on an automatic five minute timer, no matter who opens it, it locks after five minutes. There’s a motion sensor and laser grid inside the vault itself!” Parker exclaims, her mind already turning over the problem in her mind. She would need three minutes to get in the vault, a stethoscope, her lock picks, if she- 

“So we gotta, what? Get in, steal his shit, and give it to the police?” Eliot asks, interrupting her train of thought as he looks at the screens. 

“Which safe deposit box is his?” 

“Well, that’s complicated.” Hardison replies. 

“Complicated?” Eliot raises an eyebrow. “How is it complicated?” 

“See, he checked out two safety deposit boxes under a shell company, a third box under a different shell company, and when I went digging, I found a fourth box checked out the day Vandrian put stuff in the first three, and he paid for that one in cash.” Hardison explains. 

“That’s the one that’s got his records.” Parker says, “you don’t go through that much trouble unless you’ve got something to hide.” Parker tilts her head, running through a list of cons that might work. The Shrew Run would work, but they needed four people to pull that off. It was winter, so Snakes In The Grass was out of the question. Piano Man was a long con, two weeks of prep minimum. “The Sideways Foxtrot.” She said finally, a slow grin spread across her face. “Let’s go steal a secret.” 

\--------- 

_Ding!_

The elevator doors open and Parker quickly steps on, pressing the button for the 9th floor. Four men get on and Parker allows herself to be shuffled to the back of the elevator. They press the buttons for floors 4 and 7, and the elevator doors start to close. At the last moment another woman darts on, and Parker watches as the woman hesitates for half a second before pressing the button for floor 10 and leaning back against the wall. Something in her movement sets off an alarm bell in Parker’s head, and she focuses on observing her while not looking like she was observing her. The woman was tall, with brown hair pulled up into a bun, and she stands stiffly in the corner as the elevator rises. Two of the men talk loudly and Parker tunes them out, leaving all her attention on the woman. As the elevator moves her eyes dart around, and Parker immediately dubs her Shifty. 

_“Okay Parker, you’ll want to take a left out of the elevator, then take the second right, and the office should be the third on your left”_ Hardison’s voice filters through her comm. The elevator stops at level 4 and two of the men get off, leaving Parker, Shifty, and the two men who were loudly discussing… Secret Santa? Parker’s ears immediately perk up at the mention of Santa, and she switches her attention onto their conversation. 

“I have no idea what to get my person.” The shorter man, who Parker immediately dubs Shortie, says. 

“At least your person doesn’t know you have them. I already know Janet got me a nerf gun.” The other man, Baldie? no, Hairy, says. “She didn’t even try to hide it, just outright asked what I wanted.” He shakes his head in disbelief. 

“Well, who do you have?” Shortie asks. 

“I can’t tell you! That would ruin the secret part of Secret Santa.” Hairy says. The elevator dings again and they both exit, leaving Parker and Shifty. She hears a couple grunts and thuds over the comms before Eliot speaks. 

_“Dammit, Hardison why didn’t you tell me there were guards here?”_ Eliot grumbles, and she can hear the faint sound of something being dragged across the floor. 

_“Why didn’t I tell you? I dunno, maybe cause I’m trying to hack into a bank that’s got a kick ass security system while trying to keep you guys from getting caught. Seriously man, if I wasn’t trying to break into this damn bank I’d be impressed with their security. So ‘scuse me if I can’t tell you what’s around every corner.”_ Hardison fires back, and Eliot just growls. _“And don’t act like you aren’t having fun, we all know you’ve been itching for a fight for weeks.”_ Hardison adds, and Parker has to resist rolling her eyes as they continue to bicker. The elevator finally reaches the 9th floor and Parker steps off. As the doors close behind her, Parker swears she hears Shifty start talking to someone, but by the time she’s whipped her head around the doors have already shut, so she files that away in the back of her mind. Parker follows the directions Hardison gave her, but when she turns the corner she’s momentarily surprised to see a guard standing outside the mark’s office. He was young, with short red curls, and barely glances up at her before he goes back to staring off into space. Probably bored as hell. The only reaction she gives is the slightest frown before she continues down the hall. Stopping or turning around is a dead giveaway you’re not where you’re supposed to be. She gives him a polite smile as she passes before she ducks into the nearest bathroom. She crouches down to check under the stalls, making sure she’s alone before she speaks. 

“There’s a security guard outside the mark’s office. Eliot I need you to distract him.” Parker says as she steps into the stall farthest from the door. 

_“There’s a guard outside his office? Dammit, Hardison.”_ Eliot growls. 

_“What? I already told you I’m busy!”_ Hardison retorts. 

“Just be careful, I think something’s going on.” Parker adds, stepping up onto the toilet. She reaches above her head and moves aside the cover to the ventilation shaft. 

_“What kind of thing?”_ Eliot asks. 

“Not sure yet, but something’s off. Keep an eye out for anything unusual.” Parker tells him. She jumps up and catches the lip of the ceiling with her fingertips, pulling herself up until she’s made it all the way inside the vent. Why were the vents in this building so small? 

_“Ok. Might take me a few minutes to get there.”_ Eliot informs her. Parker’s just replaced the cover when she hears the door swing open and someone else walks in. 

“-outside the door.” Cautiously, Parker peeks through the vent into the bathroom below, and she watches as a woman walks down the row of stalls, pushing open each one until she’s sure she’s alone. As she passes underneath Parker gets a better look at her, and recognizes the woman from the elevator, Shifty. 

“No idea. Why he upped security now of all times is beyond me.” Parker watches as Shifty starts pacing the length of the bathroom, hands clasped behind her back as she stares at the ground, thinking. Parker can hear the faint squeak of her sneakers on the tile each time Shifty takes a step, every step almost mechanically the same length. “And how exactly am I supposed to do that? I’m not dressed as a security guard, and I can’t just knock him out it’s too public.” Shifty stops in front of one mirror and stares at her reflection, brow furrowed and hands still clasped behind her back. If Eliot was here, he’d probably say it was a very distinctive stance or something else equally ridiculous. “Look, I don’t like this. He’s upped security and the party’s in two days, we don’t have time to-” she cuts off and Parker watches as her shoulders set and she stands up straighter. “Understood.” She says, and she shakes her head a few times. “If shit goes sideways, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” With that, Shifty turns on her heel and pushes out of the bathroom, the door swinging shut behind her. 

“So about that thing.” Parker murmurs as she starts crawling through the vents. 

_“What? Are you in trouble?”_ Eliot’s voice immediately becomes slow and dangerous in a way that only happens when he’s worried. 

“No, I’m not in trouble.” Parker assures him, “but there’s another crew here, maybe more.” 

_“Another CREW?!?”_ Hardison asks, his voice going up half an octave. 

“Yeah. A woman was just in the bathroom talking to someone on an earbud like ours.” 

_“How many times I gotta tell y’all that nobody’s got earbuds like ours, ‘kay? I-”_

_“Hardison!”_ Eliot growls, cutting off his rant. 

_“I’m just saying!”_ Hardison retorts, and Parker rolls her eyes before continuing crawling through the ventilation shaft. “Eliot, I need you to distract the guard outside the marks office. Just don’t let him look in while I’m in there.” Parker murmurs. 

_“On it.”_ Eliot replies. 

_“Hang on, you said she was talking on an earbud?”_ Hardison asks. 

“Yeah.” Parker says. 

_“So that means there’s a signal, and if there’s a signal, I can trace it, if I can trace it, I can hack it. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure out who else is here.”_ Hardison says excitedly. Parker just rolls her eyes as she hears the excited tapping of keys. _“Found the signal!”_ Hardison exclaims barely thirty seconds later. _“Oh damn, it’s encrypted. Like real well. FBI level encrypted.”_

“Can you crack it?” Parker asks as she wiggles her way around a corner. The air ducts in this building small enough that her shoulders touched both sides of the vent, and that was just rude. 

_“Can I-? Woman my name Alec Hardison, I can crack anything. Just might take me awhile.”_

“How long?” She asks. 

_“It depends. Not soon, cause I’m gonna prioritize the bank first. But at some point tomorrow.”_

“Well, hurry up.” 

\--------- 

“On it.” Eliot says before he heads for the nearest staircase. Hardison starts talking again but Eliot just tunes it out, a skill he’s gotten remarkably good at. Eliot pushes into the stairwell and resigns himself to climbing up another five flights to reach the 9th floor. He makes his way up the stairs casually, appearing to everyone he passes as just another security guard. Eliot’s planning on exiting on the 7th floor before crossing the building so he can climb the final two flights, just to make sure no one is following him. He’s just passing the 6th floor when he hears someone else on the stairs, sneakers squeaking on the tile. He looks up to see a woman pass him on her way down, brown hair pulled up into a severe bun on the top of her head. He smiles politely as he passes her, noting the distinctive way she walks and how her eyes flit over him, cataloging him. 

“I think I just passed someone on that crew you were talking about Parker.” Eliot murmurs after exiting the stairwell. “Tall, brown hair in a bun, and she was wearing sneakers. Ex-FBI, maybe some CIA training as well.” 

_“That’s Shifty!”_ Parker exclaims. 

_“Shifty?”_ Hardison voices what Eliot was thinking. 

_“Yeah, her eyes were all shifty when she was in the elevator with me.”_ Parker explains. 

“Well… it fits.” Eliot admits. 

_“Hang on how’d you know she’s ex-FBI?”_ Hardison asks him as Eliot reaches the staircase on the other side of the building. 

“The way she walked. It’s a very distinctive-” Eliot cuts off as he opens the door and nearly runs into someone, dancing around them at the last moment. He’s about to apologize when he recognizes the man in front of him. 

“Quinn.” Eliot says evenly. 

_“Quinn!?”_ Hardison all but shrieks. The last time they’d seen each other was the dam job when Quinn helped the team take down Dubenich. He had been friendly then, but in their line of work just because you worked with someone once didn’t mean they would always be friendly. 

“Eliot.” Quinn says, smirking. “Long time no try to kill you.” 

“You’re the one that never called in that favor.” Eliot replies, Quinn just shrugs. 

“Haven’t come across anything I’d need your help for.” 

_“What’s Quinn doing here?”_ Parker questions, her voice significantly less shrill than Hardison’s. 

“What’re you doing here, anyway? Doesn’t seem like your usual type of gig.” Eliot asks, and Quinn looks away. 

“Let’s just say someone else called in a favor.” Quinn says nonchalantly, but Eliot notices the way his shoulders tense. 

“Someone threatening you?” Eliot asks before he can think better of it. 

“No, not threaten so much as… promise.” Quinn replies. There’s a beat of silence before Quinn speaks again. “Why’re you here?” He asks, changing the topic. 

“The usual. Taking down bad guys.” Eliot shrugs, Quinn nods. 

_“Eliot, I could really use that distraction.”_ Parker informs him over comms. 

“Which way are you headed?” Eliot asks him. 

“Up.” Quinn says noncommittally. 

“CEO’s office?” Eliot asks, and Quinn raises an eyebrow at him. “Parker’s already inside.” And Quinn gives him a rueful shake of his head as the two of them start up the stairs. 

“Still with that crew then?” Quinn questions, and Eliot shoots him a sidelong glance, trying to figure out what he means by it. 

“Yeah.” 

“Shame. If we teamed up we’d be unstoppable.” Quinn winks at him and Eliot let out a laugh. 

“What do you need in his office?” 

“Some… file.” Quinn waves his ambiguously. “Someone’s paying a lot for it.” 

“What’s in the file?” Quinn just shoots him a glance and Eliot chuckles. “Fair enough.” They reach the 9th floor and Eliot pauses before opening the door. “If you help me distract the guard, we can get that file for you.” Eliot offers. 

_“We can do WHAT now?”_ Hardison asks incredulously. Quinn regards him for a moment, considering. 

“All right.” Quinn says eventually, “file name is KZ379.” 

_“Seriously man, that is not cool. We gon have a strong talk when you get back to the van. You can’t just team up with Quinn without consulting us!”_ Eliot tunes out Hardison’s complaints as they make their way towards the office. _“Parker, are you okay with this?”_ Parker sighs loud enough he can hear it over the comms. 

_“We could use the extra muscle.”_ Parker admits quietly. _“As long as you get here quickly. I’ve been waiting for five minutes already.”_ Eliot suppresses a smile as Hardison sputters. 

“Follow my lead.” Eliot tells Quinn as they approach the office. “Hey, we can take over here, you’re free to go.” Eliot tells the guard, a kid in his mid 20s who looked extremely bored. 

“What? It’s not the end of my shift yet.” He says, confused. 

“All right, all right, you got me. Your shift ends in half an hour. But we wanna catch up,” Eliot gestures to Quinn, “we haven‘t seen each other in a while. Then you can take your lunch break early.” He plasters a lopsided grin on his face as he looks at the security guard. The kid looks between Eliot and Quinn a few times, trying to figure out what was going on. 

“But… my shift…” 

“I mean I guess we can go somewhere else, but…” Quinn looks at the kid quizzically, “you sure you don’t want to get off half an hour early? Take a long lunch?” He suggests. That catches the kid’s attention, and he stands there for another moment like he’s expecting them to change their minds. 

“Go!” Eliot ushers the kid, and he hurries off down the hall. 

“‘Want to catch up’?” Quinn says once the kid is out of ear-shot, “really?” 

“It was that or yell at him. Now he’ll take longer to report in, give us more time to get away.” Eliot shoots back, and Quinn shakes his head, smirking. “Ok Parker, you’re clear.” Eliot says once the guards rounded the corner. The door bursts open and Parker emerges from the office, a crazy smile on her face as she tosses a file into Quinn’s hands and quickly locks the door behind her. 

“Let’s go!” She exclaims before taking off down the hall. 

“Hardison you’d better wipe the security footage clean!” Eliot calls out as he takes off after her. 

_“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it.”_ They’ve just reached the 8th floor when Hardison speaks again. _“I don’t mean to rush you guys, but one of you set off a silent alarm in the mark’s office. You’re about to have half the building on your ass.”_ Parker halts suddenly and Eliot manages to avoid running directly into her. 

“Dammit, Parker why'd you stop? If security’s coming we gotta go!” Eliot urges her. 

“Security’s coming?” Quinn questions, and Eliot had almost forgotten that he didn’t have an earbud. 

“We can’t go out through the lobby, we’ll get caught in a second.” Parker says, looking between them. 

_“Whatever you do you’d better hurry cause security is about 30 seconds away from your location.”_ Hardison chimes in. 

“Eliot and I can distract security.” Quinn adds suddenly, and they both look at him. “We go out through the front door, you sneak out the back.” He explains, and Eliot can see Parker think it over for a moment before she nods and takes off. Eliot shakes his head before starting down the stairs again, Quinn hot on his heels. Just before they reach the lobby Eliot pulls a fire extinguisher off the wall. 

“I’ll blind them, you take them out.” Eliot says in response to Quinn’s quizzical look, his eyes sharpen and he nods, and the two of them burst into the lobby. 

“There they are!” He hears someone shout. Eliot brings up the nozzle and sprays the first group of security guards that come rushing at them. They stumble, blinded, and a wicked grin spreads across Quinn’s face as he takes them out. Eliot swings the extinguisher around and hits one guard, sending him sprawling on his ass. They continue charging towards the door and Eliot sprays the next group of guards that charge at them. As they continue through the lobby, Eliot alternates between spraying guards with the extinguisher and using it like a battering ram until they’ve reached the door. Once there, Eliot pivots and sprays behind them as Hardison pulls up, tires screeching on the pavement. Quinn throws open the back door and climbs in, and Eliot quickly throws the fire extinguisher at the remaining guards, catching one in the chest and causing them to fall like dominoes before following Quinn into the van. 

“Where’s Parker?” Eliot asks as Hardison pulls away. 

“Around the corner.” Hardison motions to the GPS he’s got pulled up on his phone. Lucille screeches to a stop and Eliot throws open the door. Parker’s in like a rocket and the van’s moving again before the door’s even shut and they take off through the streets of Portland. 

\--------- 

“I vote no!” Hardison exclaims, his voice filling up the Brewpub’s kitchen, and Parker has to resist rolling her eyes. 

“Hardison, Quinn could help us.” She says yet again. “You saw how many guys there were at the office! The bank will have even more security, we could use the extra muscle.” 

“Dammit, Hardison listen to Parker.” Eliot growls from where he is by the stovetop. “She’s the mastermind for a reason.” 

“Yeah but… how do we know he won’t double cross us?” Hardison asks, pointing out towards the bar where they left Quinn nursing a drink. 

“Because we’ll pay him," Parker explains. 

“If he’s stuck around this long, he won’t betray us. He might bail, but by helping us we’re helping him with whoever was threatening him.” Eliot adds. Parker watches as Hardison opens his mouth to argue again before all the fight goes out of him and he slouches over. 

“Fine.” He says sullenly, “but if he double cross us…” Hardison lets the words hang in the air. 

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll rain digital fire down on his life.” Eliot huffs. “Foods done. Hardison can you tell Quinn it’s safe to come in here?” Eliot says as he pours the spaghetti into a strainer in the sink. Hardison grumbles but does as bid, and Parker hops off the counter to grab a bowl. Eliot takes the sauce off the heat and adds a few final spices as she steps up to the stove. Eliot reaches out and places a hand on Parker’s shoulder. 

“Thank you.” He says, blue eyes soft. She smiles and boops his nose. 

“If he crosses us, I will tase him.” Parker says seriously, and he laughs a little at that. 

“I know. And so does he.” Eliot winks at her as she snorts, and Hardison walks back in the kitchen trailed by Quinn. Once everyone’s gotten food Parker leads them to the back room so they can plan the bank heist. 

“Our target is the Riverview Chase Bank. They’ve got a Glenn Rieder 4700 with a combination and a passcode lock. Inside the vault itself is motion sensors and a laser grid, and the door auto locks every five minutes.” Parker explains, pointing at the banks blueprints are lying on the table. 

“The mark has four separate safety deposit boxes. 113, 114, 168, and 207.” Hardison adds. 

“That’s an… odd assortment.” Quinn says, pulling a face. 

“Well, three of them were checked out under shell companies, and he paid the fourth in cash.” Hardison tells him, pulling up Vandrian’s financials. 

“So the plan is to break in, steal stuff, then the next day we’ll use the party he’s having as a distraction so Parker can break back into his office. We’ll plant evidence and then we can frame him for the bank break in. We’ll tip off the police that something fishy’s going on, and he’ll be done for.” Eliot says, and Quinn nods. 

“Why don’t we just give the evidence straight to the police?” Quinn questions, raising an eyebrow. “One less step and then we don’t have to break into the office building again.” 

“The cops will never buy it if we give them all the evidence. They’ll think it’s a setup and it’ll give Vandrian time to clean up his act. But if we let the cops think they discovered the evidence? Then they pat themselves on the back for a job well done.” Parker explains. Quinn considers it for a moment before shrugging. 

“Okay.” Quinn leans back in his chair and clasps his hands behind his head. “So when do we start?”


	2. The Heist

“Remind me again why we’re going in through the third floor?” Quinn asks. The four of them are all crammed in the back of Lucille, parked around the block from the bank as Parker finishes checking her gear. Rope, belay, suction cup, acid, lock picks, stethoscope, duct tape, tase, all present and accounted for in her bag.

“The higher you go the less security measures there are because no one expects you to enter through the third floor.” Parker explains, running her fingers along the length of the rope, checking for wear and tear. 

“Yeah cause it’s insane.” Quinn mutters. He shoots a glance at Eliot, who just shrugs. 

“You get used to it.” Eliot replies. Parker finishes going over her gear and hops out the back of the van. 

“Can’t say that’s something I want to get used to.” Quinn grumbles as he and Eliot clamber out after her. 

“Remember,” Parker tells Hardison, “if we get in trouble, Plan C is in the parking lot across the street under a tarp.” 

“I know babe, we’ve been over this.” Hardison says patiently. “Kiss for luck?” He teases her, more out of habit than anything else at this point. 

“I don‘t believe in luck.” She gives him a wry smile and a wink before taking off around the back of the bank. 

“But seriously, third floor?” Quinn says yet again, and Parker rolls her eyes. 

“You don’t even have to worry about it. I’m going up first with the rope, and I’ll secure it before dropping it down to you. All you two have to do is use the clip to climb the rope.” Parker says. They reach the base of the bank and Eliot quickly positions himself underneath one window, cupping his hands in front of him. Parker backs up a couple steps and takes a deep breath before running at Eliot. She jumps onto his hands and he boosts her up high enough for her to grab the 2nd floor windowsill. Her feet scrabble for purchase for a moment before she wedges her toes in a crack in the wall. 

“Thank god for shitty architecture.” Parker murmurs to herself as she grabs onto a brick that’s a good half inch out of alignment. Carefully she picks her way up the side of the building, feeling more than seeing in the dim glow from distant streetlights where to grab on. A fall from this height wouldn’t kill her, but it might break something, and she didn‘t want to be bedridden again. Finally she reaches the third floor and finds purchase on the windowsill, making sure she’s got a good foothold before she takes the suction cup off her belt and attaches it to the window. Once she’s sure it‘s secure, she reaches into her pocket and fishes out the tube of acid and draws a circle on the window, making it big enough that both Eliot and Quinn could fit through. Usually when Parker uses acid to melt through glass, it would be because the windows had vibration detectors that would trigger if she tried to cut it, but it was also easier to use the acid when she didn’t have the leverage to really cut all the way through the glass. 

“Leverage.” Parker snorts to herself as she completes the circle. “Watch out below.” Parker calls out softly as she carefully removes the glass. She checks below her once to make sure she won’t drop it on Eliot or Quinn, then carefully makes her way inside the office. It takes a moment for Parker’s eyes to adjust to the dim light inside the office, and she immediately scans the room for something to attach the rope to. The only things that looked like they would hold Eliot and Quinn’s weight were the file cabinets, desk, or the coffee table. She considers her options for a moment before grabbing the desk and pushing it over to the window, then she drags the coffee table over to the desk. Working quickly, she loops the rope around both the coffee table and the desk before dropping the end out the window. She double checks the rope is secure before speaking. 

“All clear.” Parker whispers, “come on up.” She sees the rope go taut and hears someone breathing heavily over the comms. She keeps an ear towards the door, making sure no security guards would walk by at an inopportune moment. Finally she hears someone clamber inside the window and she glances back to see Quinn fall gracelessly to the floor, and she has to hold back a snort as he stands up quickly and dusts off his shirt. She’s just thankful there aren’t any vibration detectors, and that Hardison could disable the motion sensors inside the vault, otherwise they’d set the alarms off. The rope goes taut again, and she hears Eliot make his way up, making significantly less noise than Quinn did. Something in the hall catches her attention and she pauses. 

“Everyone freeze!” Parker whispers, “there’s someone in the hall.” 

_“It’s security making their rounds, you’ll be clear in 10.”_ Hardison informs them over comms. _“All clear.”_ Hardison tells them a few moments later, and she hears Eliot resume climbing. Finally, Eliot pulls himself through the window, though with considerably more grace than Quinn, and she quickly pulls the rest of the rope in coils it up before putting it in her backpack. 

“Hardison, is the coast clear?” Eliot asks, his hand resting on the doorknob. 

_“Yeah, you’re all good.”_ Hardison tells them. Quickly the three of them file out of the room, and Parker takes half a second to re-lock the door behind them before they’re off. _“Stairs will be the third door on your left.”_ Hardison informs them. Eliot leads the way, taking the stairs two at a time until they reach the first floor. _“Hang on.”_ They pause at the door to the lobby. _“You’ll need to reach the stairwell behind where the tells are. I can distract the guards for a minute tops, so you gotta move fast. The door will be locked too.”_

“I can get the door. Eliot, Quinn, you guys hide while I open the door, if a guard sports me, take care of it.” Eliot and Quinn nod. 

_“Hallways clear.”_ Hardison tells them. Eliot opens the door and the three of them race across the lobby, hopping over the tells and Parker immediately crouches down to look at the lock. Quinn squeezes beneath one of the tells and Eliot hides behind a trash can as Parker examines the lock. 

“Ooh this is a Rogers deadbolt lock.” Parker says breathlessly. “It’s one of the newer types of locks, very pricey.” Parker pulls out her set of lock picks and rifles through them for a moment. “Normal lock picks won’t work, but if you have a bumping hammer, you can bump the pins enough to allow you to turn the lock.” Parker explains as she holds up the hammer. 

“That’s great Parker.” Eliot growls sarcastically. “How long will it take you to pick it?” 

“A minute thirty tops.” Parker whispers back, already getting to work. 

“That long?” Quinn scoffs. 

“Do you want to give it a shot?” Parker shoots back before closing her eyes and tuning out the rest of the world, focusing on the pins and tumblers. She’s about halfway done when Hardison talks again. 

_“Babe, I don’t mean to rush you, but security’s 30 seconds away from your position.”_ Hardison says in his ‘I’m definitely not panicking’ voice. 

“Shh, almost there.” She gives it a few more taps, and before another 15 seconds have gone by the lock clicks and turns. “Got it!” Parker whisper-yells, a wide smile on her face. “I haven’t picked one of those in a while.” She says as Eliot all but pushes her in the door, she stops short at the top of a staircase as Eliot pushes Quinn in after her, and Eliot swings the door shut behind them just as the guards come around the corner. 

"Guards?” Eliot hisses. 

_“They didn’t see you, but they saw the door move and they’re on their way to check it out. I can jam their signal for about 45 seconds but it’ll also break our connection.”_ Hardison informs them. 

“Do it.” Parker says. The earbuds give a burst of static before going quiet and Parker motions for Eliot and Quinn to push up against the wall behind the door. She turns and makes it a few steps down before the door swings open again and two guards step in. 

“Freeze!” One of them exclaims, shining his flashlight on Parker. She puts her hands up and turns around slowly, squinting at the bright flashlight. “How’d you get in here?” He asks again as the other guard scrambles to fish out a pair of handcuffs. Amateur, Parker thinks, and she has to resist rolling her eyes. 

“I had some help.” Parker says quietly. In a burst of action Eliot and Quinn pounce on the guards. The guard loses his grip on the flashlight and it goes rolling across the floor, throwing crazy shadows up on the walls. Eliot grabs one guard and punches him across the face once, spinning him around before slamming him into the wall and leaving him sprawled unconscious on the ground. Quinn puts the other one into a headlock and starts choking him out. Rolling her eyes Parker fishes out her taser and gives him a jolt, leaving him limp in Quinn’s grasp. 

“I had it under control.” Quinn grumbles. 

“You were taking too long.” Parker shoots back, and he rolls his eyes. Parker fishes the roll of duct tape out of her bag and tosses it to Eliot. “Tie them up and leave them at the bottom of the stairs.” She tells him before she heads down the stairs herself. She stops in front of the vault door and blows out a long breath. 

“Glenn Rieder 4700. Combination AND passcode lock?” Parker says, an excited twinkle in her eyes as their comms crackle back to life. 

_“Parker, somewhere on the keypad there should be something you can plug your phone into.”_ Hardison tells her. She examines the keypad and pulls out a side panel, digging a cord out of her bag before attaching her phone to the keypad. _“Good. Damn, a 10 digit passcode? I’m impressed.”_ Hardison snickers. _“Won’t take me too long, Can you figure out the combination lock?”_

“Can I figure out the combination lock.” Parker scoffs, pulling the stethoscope free of her bag. “What kind of question is that.” Parker cracks her neck before she fishes the earbud out of her ear, placing it in her pocket to allow her to put all her attention on the safe. 

\--------- 

“Got it!” Parker exclaims, and Eliot looks back to see the vault door swing open, revealing an array of lasers roaming around the tiny room. 

_“Babe, I got the motion sensors, but the off switch for the lasers is on the opposite side of the vault from you.”_ Hardison says over comms. Parker leans in and Eliot watches as she studies the lasers, planning a path through them. 

“And how the hell do you plan on making it over there?” Quinn asks skeptically, an eyebrow raised. Parker casts a sidelong glance at him and flashes a wry smile before she moves. No matter how many times he watches Parker dance through a field of lasers, Eliot will never tire of it. She moves with the grace of a ballerina, bending and spinning and twisting around the beams of light as they dance across the vault. She does a final backbend, flipping her legs over her and then she’s standing up on the other side of the vault. She presses a button and the lasers turn off, and she shoots a wink at Eliot before she turns to the safety deposit boxes. 

“Well I’ll be damned.” Quinn murmurs, stepping inside the vault. Eliot stands by the door, keeping watch as Parker starts opening safety deposit boxes. She works in silence, and pretty soon they’ve got box 207 open and she’s pulling out the contents. 

“Damn.” Eliot says. “He put a combination lock box inside a safe deposit box?” 

“Talk about paranoid.” Quinn mutters. “Can you open it?” He asks Parker. 

“Of course I can open it.” Parker scoffs. “It’ll take me a while, so I’ll do that last. If worst comes to worst we can take it and run and then open it back at the Brewpub.” Parker replies, setting the box down in her bag. She turns to box 168 next, and even from ten feet away Eliot can see the excited glint in her eye that she only gets when stealing things. 

_“Uh… guys?”_ Hardison’s voice comes over the comms. 

“Yeah?” Eliot asks gruffly. 

_“Remember that encrypted feed I picked up off that woman y’all were talking about?”_

“Shifty?” Parker says, not pausing what she’s doing. 

“Shifty?” Quinn questions, but Hardison ignores him. 

_“Yeah, well…”_ Hardison trails off as the second box opens. 

“Spit it out Hardison.” Eliot growls. 

_“That crew, that team? Didn’t just have FBI level encryption, they’re the actual FBI.”_ Hardison says, and all three of them pause and look at each other. 

“You mean the FBI’s here?” Quinn asks, his voice echoing around the vault. 

_“Well… yeah. There’s a group of them heading towards you now.”_

“Dammit, Hardison!” Eliot snaps, exchanging a glance with Quinn as Parker opens the third box. “How far away?” Eliot asks. 

_“45 seconds tops.”_ Hardison tells them. Eliot and Quinn both swear under their breath. 

“You guys go stall them, I’ll get the rest of these.” Parker tells them. Eliot and Quinn take off towards the staircase, taking up position on either side just as he hears the door slam open. A group of five people rush by them, and Eliot charges, tackling a couple of them to the ground. Two of them go sprawling, sliding across the floor. Eliot catches the third goon’s wild swing, hitting him once in the throat before elbowing him in the chest and slamming him against the wall. Goon #1 recovers quickly, getting up and rushing Eliot, who easily sidesteps the goon’s first punch and instead drives a fist into the guys gut. The goon gasps and doubles over, allowing Eliot to shove him to the side. Goon #2 is a little slower getting up, and Eliot blocks his first swing easily. He punches the goon twice in the face before kicking him in the chest and sending him falling on his ass. Goon #3 recovers faster than Eliot expects, and he gets in once good punch before Eliot catches his fist. Eliot twists the goon‘s arm behind his back and throws him at Goon #1, who was getting ready to rush him again. Goon #2 tries to get up, and Eliot quickly kicks his legs out from under him. As he falls, Eliot grabs the goon‘s head and brings it to his knee, hearing a sickening crunch as the guy falls over. Eliot turns and catches a fist to the face as Goon #1 strikes him. He stumbles backwards and Goon #1 sweeps his legs out from under him, causing him to fall to the ground. The goon rears back his leg to kick, but Eliot catches his foot before it can make connect. Quickly Eliot yanks the goon off balance before rolling to the side and popping up to his feet again. Goon #3 charges him and Eliot ducks low and drives his shoulder into the goon’s chest, sending him flying through the air. The goon lands on the ground hard and groans but doesn’t get up. Eliot dodges to the side as Goon #1 swings out at him again, and they trade more blows for a few moments before Quinn suddenly appears and knocks the guy out, leaving him motionless on the floor. 

“I had it under control.” Eliot grunts, pushing his hair out of his face. 

“Sure you did.” Quinn says, giving him a look. Eliot just scoffs and shakes his head 

“These guys weren’t FBI.” Eliot says as he rummages through their pockets. 

“How the hell can you tell that?” Quinn asks him, giving him a sidelong glance, pausing in the middle of dragging them off to the side. 

“The way they fight, this guy” Eliot nudges one of them with his shoe, “more army than anything else. This one” Eliot pulls a phone out of one other others pockets. “He might’ve had some FBI training, but really more CIA. And this one?” Eliot looks at the final guy, “Mossad.” Quinn raises an eyebrow at him. “It’s a very distinctive fighting style.” Eliot grumbles, finishing emptying all their pockets. He comes up with three phones, five guns, and a list of all the safety deposit boxes that Vandrian owns. 

_“Eliot, put your phone up next to theirs. I should be able to copy all their data.”_ Hardison tells him, and Eliot does. _“Huh, only call is from-”_ Hardison lists off a number and Eliot notices as Quinn stands up straighter. 

“Something wrong, Quinn?” Eliot asks. 

“That’s the number that hired me.” Quinn says, narrowing his eyes. 

_“The FBI hired you?”_ Parker asks, her voice echoing over comms. 

“No. I was hired by-” Quinn pauses, “doesn’t matter. He’s not FBI though.” 

“You sure?” Eliot questions, and Quinn just shoots him a glare. “All right. So… what, FBI contacts a second party to hire someone to break into a bank?” 

_“Would make sense, FBI can’t technically hire someone to break into a bank but if someone does it for them...”_ Hardison trails off. Eliot frowns and shakes his head before helping Quinn drag them into a corner. 

_“Shit.”_ Hardison mutters suddenly. 

“What?” Eliot asks. 

_“Well, I don’t mean to alarm y’all, but those guys alerted security, you’re about to have half the police force on your asses.”_ Hardison informs them, and on cue the alarms start blaring. 

“Parker!” Eliot calls out. “Time to go!” He glances back towards the vault to see Parker dash out, the door clanging shut seconds behind her. 

“Ready?” She doesn’t even wait for a response, instead sprinting past them and up the stairs, taking them three at a time until they burst into the lobby. “Hardison, we need Plan C!” 

“There they are!” Eliot glances over his shoulder to see half a dozen security guards rushing them, drawing their guns. Quickly Eliot assess the situation, they were over 20 feet away, so if he rushed them they could get a shot off before he reached them. Out of the corner of his eye he notices Parker melt into the shadows, and he exchanges a glance with Quinn before he sprints left and Eliot goes right. Eliot ducks around a pillar as one of them fires a shot at him, hitting the marble instead. He counts to three and sticks his foot out, tripping the first guard before he lashes out and strikes the second in the throat. He hears a taser go off and the third one drops to the ground, leaving Eliot free to swing at the other two. He kicks and jabs at them until they’re both lying unconscious on the ground before he races towards the door again. Just then a police car pulls up outside the bank, sirens blaring. Eliot spots another guard sneaking up behind Quinn as he grapples with the other one, and Eliot changes targets. He tackles the guard and slams him into the wall, dispatching him with a quick blow to the head. 

_“Guys, we gotta go NOW!”_ Hardison cries out, and Eliot and Quinn sprint out the door just as Hardison steps out of the first police car, already dressed in a police uniform. “Rest of the cops are less than a minute away.” He calls, pulling out a pair of handcuffs as Parker appears next to him, somehow already changed into a police uniform. Eliot grumbles but allows Hardison to handcuff him, slamming him against the hood of the cop car. 

“Really?” Quinn grunts next to him as Parker does the same. 

“Hey man, we gotta put on a show.” Hardison mutters. Half a dozen police cars come screeching into the parking lot, and Eliot allows Hardison to push him into the back of the police car. 

“I don’t like this plan.” Quinn grumbles from the seat next to him as Parker tosses him in, throwing them the keys to the handcuffs as well before shutting the door. “You can’t expect this to actually work?” 

“You’d be surprised.” Eliot mutters back, already working on unlocking his handcuffs. 

“Hey fellas!” Eliot hears Hardison call as he walks up towards the police officers arriving on the scene. “We caught these two while they were fleeing the scene, and their accomplices are currently knocked out inside the bank.” Hardison explains, pointing towards the building. “Looks like they came in dressed as janitors and somehow managed to get all the way down to the vault before tripping the alarms. There was a tussle with security, and only these two managed to get away.” “We should take them back to the station.” Parker comes up from behind Hardison and claps him on the shoulder, subtly pulling him away from the crowd of officers. The cops all nod and turn back to each other, some of them speaking into their walkie talkies. Parker jumps into the driver’s seat and starts the car, peeling out of the parking lot before the police can think twice about what he’s told them. 

“That.” Hardison says, glancing back at them, “was way too close.”


	3. The Set-Up

“Damn.” Hardison can’t help but let out a low whistle as he steps into the party. Vandrian had sectioned off half of the first floor, and it was currently filled with all the ‘important’ people that were involved in the company. He snatches a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and looks around the room, taking in the extravagance. He was just glad Parker wasn’t going to be at the party long, or half the people there would go home missing their wallets.

_“None of these people will recognize you, isn’t that going to blow your cover?”_ Quinn questions over the comms. 

“No one wants to admit they don’t remember somebody, especially if you know their name.” Hardison murmurs, raising the glass to his lips and pretending to take a sip before walking over to two people. 

“Weston! Adams! How have you guys been? It’s been a hot second since we’ve caught up.” Hardison gives the two men in front of him his most disarming smile as they exchange confused glances. “Wylan Van Eck remember? We used to work on the same floor until I got transferred to IT.” 

“Oh- yeah, of course.” Weston gives him a forced smile. “How… have you been?” He asks questioningly. 

“Good, you know. Same old, same old.” Hardison glances over their shoulder and pretends to spot someone else. “Oh, if you’ll excuse me, I wanted to catch up with Helvar.” Hardison brushes by them and continues across the room, leaving them with dumbstruck expressions on their faces. “Seriously man, how do you not know this? It’s like… Con 101.” Hardison mutters, making his way through the crowd. 

_“My job usually boils down to get in, punch somebody, get out. I don’t really con.”_ Quinn huffs in reply. Hardison rolls his eyes and makes his way to the corner of the room, pulling out his phone as he goes. 

“All right, security cameras are looped. Parker, you’re up.” Hardison puts his champagne down and stows his phone, looking around the room before spotting Vandrian and making his way over. 

“Mr. Vandrian, I just wanted to say it’s been a real pleasure working with you.” Hardison says as he grabs Vandrian’s hand and shakes it enthusiastically, a wide grin on his face. “A true delight.” 

“Uh… of course, Mr…?” Vandrian carefully extracts his hand from Hardison’s eager grip. 

“Brekker. Kaz Brekker. CEO of Brekker Corporation? We’ve worked together several times before and I always admired your work ethic.” 

“Oh, right, of course.” Vandrian replies hesitantly. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Hardison says as he waves his hands around even though Vandrian didn’t look the least bit worried. 

“Champagne?” Hardison has to bite down a laugh when Vandrian jumps at Parkers sudden appearance. Hardison reaches out and takes a glass, raising it in a toast and prompting Vandrian to do the same. 

“Here’s to our companies. May they always be prosperous.” Hardison clinks his glass against Vandrian’s and takes a sip. Even though he’s watching Parker carefully, he still can’t tell exactly when she lifts his key card. 

“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have to catch up with some people.” Vandrian says, backing away from Hardison hastily. 

“Of course. It’s a pleasure talking to you Mr. Vandrian!” Hardison calls after him as he walks away before rolling his eyes. Hardison makes his way over to a corner of the room, pulling out his phone. “Parker, when you were in his office the other day, you planted a bug in his computer, right?” Hardison murmurs. 

_“Yeah. Plugged your flash drive thing in.”_ Parker replies. 

“Good. See, I had a virus in that drive. Over the past couple days, while we’ve been doing other things, that bug has been making its way through Vandrian’s entire system. When he heard of the break in, Vandrian just had to double check to make sure all his assets were secure, exposing them to my little friend.” Hardison chuckles to himself. He glances around once to make sure no one was watching him, then pulls out an adapter and another flash drive. “I gotta give him some props, he actually hid his info pretty well.” Hardison says as he compiles it all onto the drive. “But not well enough.” With a smirk, Hardison disconnects the drive and stows his phone and adapter again. 

“Ready?” Parker says from in front of him, and he definitely does not jump thank you very much. “Eliot and Quinn are at the east exit, door alarm will be disabled for the next five minutes.” Hardison mutters, low enough that only she could hear as he places the glass and flash drive on the tray. She winks at him before disappearing as quickly as she came, leaving Hardison to wander for a bit longer before heading back out to the van. 

\--------- 

Parker hides the flash drive in her pocket and all but drops the champagne tray on one table, skirting around the room and making her way to the east side of the building. 

“Hang on.” A voice says behind her, and Parker looks over her shoulder to see a security guard approaching her and she has to resist rolling her eyes. “Where are you going?” 

“To the bathroom.” She says innocently, tilting her head to the side as she takes him in. Short, blond, and couldn’t be much older than 25. 

“Bathroom’s the other way.” He informs her. 

“Oh, well you see I’m not actually feeling that good, you know” she makes a retching noise, “and I don’t want to bother the guests.” She pouts a little bit and he looks a little thrown off. 

“Oh, well…” the kid glances over at another guard who looks older and more experienced. 

“Let her through, Kyle.” He says without even looking up from his phone. “We don’t want to bother the guests.” 

“Yeah, Kyle. The guests are what’s important.” She says, flashing a charming smile and sweeping past him, resisting the temptation to slide the wallet out of his pocket as she walks by. She reaches the east exit and pushes it open to reveal Eliot and Quinn in the middle of a tussle. 

“Seriously?” She asks, raising an eyebrow. They break apart and look up at her guiltily. 

“We were bored.” Eliot says gruffly. Parker just rolls her eyes and grabs the backpack full of stolen items that’s resting against the wall before leading the way up nine flights of stairs. 

When the reach the 9th floor, Parker peeks around the corner and curses when she sees a security guard hanging around outside of Vandrian’s office. She motions for Eliot and Quinn to go ahead, and they walk around the corner, bickering about something and distracting the guard. Ten seconds later she hears a grunt and a thud, and when she looks back down the hall the guard is lying unconscious on the ground. Parker trots up to the office and uses Vandrian’s keycard to get in without setting off any alarms. She works quickly, plugging in Hardison’s flash drive and hiding all the different things they stole from the bank around the room while Eliot and Quinn stand guard outside the door. She moves aside the picture frame hanging behind Vandrian’s office to reveal the wall safe hidden there. She got the combination last time they were in there, and she opens it again to stash the valuables before rehanging the frame off center. Pleased with her work she unplugs the flash drive and hurries out of the office, locking the door behind her before leading the way back down the stairs, out the parking lot, and into Lucille. 

\--------- 

“I gotta admit, that was more fun that I was expecting.” Quinn chuckles as Vandrian was driven away in a police car. The parking lot outside the building was full of party guests, and Eliot watched in amusement as the FBI attempted to corral everyone over to the side, he didn’t envy their job. 

“Thanks for working with us Quinn.” Eliot says, flashing a grin at him. 

“Well I’m not doing it for free you know.” Quinn winks at him and Eliot rolls his eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah. Money will be wired to your account later tonight.” Eliot reaches out and shakes Quinns hand, giving him a smile. Quinn just smirks at him and turns to Parker and Hardison and giving them a nod, before he turns and starts walking down the street, disappearing into the throng of onlookers. The three of them hang around a little longer watching the show in amusement. 

“I’m driving!” Parker calls, jumping into the driver's seat of the van, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Hardison and Eliot exchange a worried look before they climb in as well. 

“Ok, but Parker remember there are a lot of cops around here so don’t go too-” Eliot’s cut off when Parker floors the gas, jolting him into the side of the van and almost running over a group of people. “Dammit, Parker!” Eliot growls, but there’s no real heat behind it, and Parker just cackles as she takes off down the streets of Portland.


End file.
